Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-03-04
Booths HamIet.

| '6A'' 0n 'ho occasiou OF tn6 repre-
sentation of Hamlet by the Edwin Booth
Company. Notonly was every station
ary seat in the theatre filled, but chairs
had been placed wherever room could
be found for them. The audience WAS
composed of the best people in the city,
and the elegant toilets of the ladies gave
the auditorium the appearance of q
rising parterre studded with beautiful
flowers. Hamlet has been the subject
OF greater and more diverse criti.
cism than any other of Shakespeare q
plays. Volumes have been written alone
on the subject of "Hamlet's" peculiar
phase of mental alteration, and the best
critics differ as to whether his deep mel.
ancholy and philosophical lunacy are
madness put on, or malady of the brain
hoyering on the borderland of insanity,
but kept within the line of reason by the
dominating PURPOSE of the great thought
which permeates and envelopes his brain.
Mr.. Booth seems to have accepted the
latter solution OF the problem, and soft
ems the asperities of "Hamlet's" mad
ness SO as to present him as man
whose mind is given up to one great
purpose, running constantly in the
same groove. SO active in its functions
in one direction as to shut out from the
table of his memory call pressures past
that youth and observation copied
there, and leave the "book and volume
of his brain unmixed by baser matter. I"
Hence, although he feigns at times for
his own ends, ebullitions of lunacy, yet,
we see, as Polonius sees, that there is
always method in his madness" We
much prefer this Interpretation, for stage
purposes, to the manifest alienation
given to ''Hamlet" by Fechter, Edwin
Adams, Charles Keane and James An.
derson. The elder Booth, we remem-
Der, had a similar conception of tho
mental condition of the melancholy
Prince as his son. But he seldom played
"Hamlet"for the same reason that George
Frederick Cook gave, to-wit: that there
was constant feeling of incon.
sistency between the contempla.
tive and the active in the
eccentric ratiocinations of "Hamlet's"
mind. Murdoch was perhaps the finest
"Hamlet" the American stage had pro-
duced up to his time; and there was
much in common with his rendition and
that of Edwin Booth. We prefer the
latter's however, for the reason that he
gives clearer intellectual light to the
role than did Murdoch. Edwin Booths
personation throughout never Jars on the
auditor, who cannot be deceived as
"Ophela" is into the belief that his mind
is "like sweet bells tangled, out of tune
and harsh" At any point in his per-
sonation he might make his will,
and the audience. sitting as q jury,
would refuse to break it on the ground
of insanity. His Interpretation accepted
as the correct one for presentation on the
stage, he is enabled to give power and
consecutiveness to the action of the
piece. We therefore find him always in
condition to illustrate the delicate trac.
cries of the poets imagination with all
the accessories of clear and perspicuous
elocution and emphasis. Effects which
Fechter's study of the charac.
ter would compel him to "gam.
Dol from" are perfectly in keep
ing with the study which Mr..
Booth has made of "Hamlet." In this the
latter secures an advantage which gives
breadth, clearness, consistency and,
to our mind,s consecutiveness, to
the role, and which add to the
effect, completeness and beauty of
the piece. The highest test Of a
good ''Hamlet" is in the rem ering
Of that admirable disquisition on death,
which Shakespeare borrowed from Cato.
Mr.. Booth has evidently made this pas.
sage the subject of his deepest study,
and as result he renders it with an earn.
est intensity aud manifestation of feel.
ing which invest it with the interest of a
Delphian oracle. 1t comes to us as q
new revelation upon a theme sentient
with awful interest to every human
being. But we have said perhaps as
much as we are called upon to say about
Mr.. Booths manner of treatment of
Hamlet" We now desire to touch
slightly upon the evidences presented
by last nights performance az to the
exact status of Mr.. Booths powers at
the present time. 1t has been said by
some Eastern critics lately that he had
passed the zenith and was on the decline.
This, surely, was not exemplitied last
night in his intellectual treatment of the
role. That was certainly up to his
highest standard at any portion of his
professional career. His voice was
round aud musical, his elocution melodi-
Gus and stately, and his accentuations
luminous of the lights and shadows of
the Interpretation. Then, when we
come to judge him in physi.
cal sense, he gave the rem.
dition all the gesture and action-all the
grace of movement and elan of anima'
tion that he could have put into it in W ha,
the critics refer to as his palmiest days
These were manifest particularly in his
first meeting with the Ghost; agair
when he had the scene in the closet with
his mother; and again in the closing
scene when he finds himself the victim O
a foul conspiracy. We therefore dismisl
the aspersion of the critics with tn,
pleasant remark that Edwin Booth il
now OF his best, physlcially as well a.
mentally. We cannot close this critiqu,
without saying word in praise of Mis-
Emma Vader's "Ophelia." 1t was ,
most chaste and beautiful conception O
one of the finest roles on the stage. Mrs
Augusta Foster presented the Queen il
a most acceptable manner, and some O
the minor characters, especially the Firs
Grave Digger, were oleverly played.
To.night: The Merchant of Venic,
and Katharine and Petruccio. In tn,
latter piece, our people will have {
chance to see Mr.. Booth in comedy, ant
to draw contrast.
Manager Wyatt requests us to say
that he has made arrangements to put
in seventy eight extra chairs tonight.